Game 33: Los Angeles Clippers (22-10) @ Los Angeles Lakers (24-6) - 8:00 PM ET

[Clemenza]

Hell of a hard-fought win. I will not say one bad word on Kawhi's load management from here on out. Dude is a beast when the lights are bright. He just weathers the storm and keeps on pushing until he and the team is victorious. Not good games from PG and Lou all but they'll be alright. PG wanted to be the man so bad in the end but nah, it wasn't happening. This is Kawhi's team. Even though we won I still want to see Zu get some 4th quarter minutes. He's starting to become a stud

I want Zubac to earn those minutes, since anything over 16-18 are being taken away from Trezz, who HAS earned them.

Hey, I wrote during the preseason that Zubac could be a key guy if he can stay on the floor 20 minutes or more. I still hope that's true but that was before Trezz started what is a breakout season. I don't think we're respecting Trezz enough.

He has earned them. Yes Trezz is the better player no arguments from me on that end.. But in a game where we can't grab a single rebound and are blowing an 18 point lead, like in the OKC game where Adams killed us on both ends, yes we should be getting a few minutes for Zubac. Trezz is the closer no doubt but what makes you think Zubac hasn't earned any extra minutes especially when Doc has his lineups no matter what a player does whether good or bad? Zu had 11 points/ 8 boards in only 17 minutes plus he was one of the reasons the vaulted front line height of the Lakers has been irrelevant in the two meetings between the two so far. He's been working hard on his game and is a factor on both ends of the court now.. but you say he has to earn it?? Strange take

[esqtvd]

Hell of a hard-fought win. I will not say one bad word on Kawhi's load management from here on out. Dude is a beast when the lights are bright. He just weathers the storm and keeps on pushing until he and the team is victorious. Not good games from PG and Lou all but they'll be alright. PG wanted to be the man so bad in the end but nah, it wasn't happening. This is Kawhi's team. Even though we won I still want to see Zu get some 4th quarter minutes. He's starting to become a stud

I want Zubac to earn those minutes, since anything over 16-18 are being taken away from Trezz, who HAS earned them.

Hey, I wrote during the preseason that Zubac could be a key guy if he can stay on the floor 20 minutes or more. I still hope that's true but that was before Trezz started what is a breakout season. I don't think we're respecting Trezz enough.

He has earned them. Yes Trezz is the better player no arguments from me on that end.. But in a game where we can't grab a single rebound and are blowing an 18 point lead, like in the OKC game where Adams killed us on both ends, yes we should be getting a few minutes for Zubac. Trezz is the closer no doubt but what makes you think Zubac hasn't earned any extra minutes especially when Doc has his lineups no matter what a player does whether good or bad? Zu had 11 points/ 8 boards in only 17 minutes plus he was one of the reasons the vaulted front line height of the Lakers has been irrelevant in the two meetings between the two so far. He's been working hard on his game and is a factor on both ends of the court now.. but you say he has to earn it?? Strange take

In the 4th, yes. Keep in mind that you're taking those minutes from Trezz, who has REALLY earned them with this breakout season.

Watch. Doc keeps trying to stretch Zubac's 6 minutes to start the game and his 6 minutes to start the 3rd. Very iffy results IMO. Some minutes in the 2nd and none in the 4th so far. And we're winning.

I'm watching closely, partly because of the controversy not just on this board but on Twitter too. Seems like a no-brainer LOL but I argue throwing him crunchtime minutes is what would really be brain-dead. Zubac can NOT get his own offense; Trezz steps up night after night and puts this team on his back. Better than Lou, better than PG, second only to Kawhi.

I am NOT going to just hand Trezz's minutes to Zubac until he becomes a FORCE and not just a body. Trezz is a FORCE.

[NippySudz]

MVP Kawhi can make some real bad strategies look good. It's a great win for sure, but a lot of the stuff this team got away with tonight would be a different story in a playoff series.

Just as I predicted. When the team loses, its doc's fault. When the team wins, its despite Doc lol.

No coach is perfect, but you're right they have some things to work on, but clearly out of the two coaches frank and doc, doc is the better coach. I trust doc in a 7 game series than I do Frank vogel.

Doc admitted the game plan didn’t work. Doc was being questioned for his moves on Twitter all game. They survived the bad habits of Doc but he needs to improve

-His decision to bench Harkless led to the poor matchup on Kuzma that dug the hole

-Doc decided to not use Green or McGruder two of our better bench defenders and rebounders when we were already outmatched in size

-Forcing the issue with Lou was his call and completely unnecessary

-This point Lou and PG should rarely close and you don’t need both every game when you have Harrell and Kawhi playing

So much spin

Kuzma had 19 at half . Only scored 4 pts in the 2nd qtr. he only scored six points in the second half. They adjusted well to kuzma.

Kuzma getting 15 in a qtr is not something people expect from kuzma or is common. Kuzma was just hot for ONE qtr in a short burst.

You make it sound like kuzma was killing the clippers for 3 and q half qtrs.

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[Clemenza]

I want Zubac to earn those minutes, since anything over 16-18 are being taken away from Trezz, who HAS earned them.

Hey, I wrote during the preseason that Zubac could be a key guy if he can stay on the floor 20 minutes or more. I still hope that's true but that was before Trezz started what is a breakout season. I don't think we're respecting Trezz enough.

He has earned them. Yes Trezz is the better player no arguments from me on that end.. But in a game where we can't grab a single rebound and are blowing an 18 point lead, like in the OKC game where Adams killed us on both ends, yes we should be getting a few minutes for Zubac. Trezz is the closer no doubt but what makes you think Zubac hasn't earned any extra minutes especially when Doc has his lineups no matter what a player does whether good or bad? Zu had 11 points/ 8 boards in only 17 minutes plus he was one of the reasons the vaulted front line height of the Lakers has been irrelevant in the two meetings between the two so far. He's been working hard on his game and is a factor on both ends of the court now.. but you say he has to earn it?? Strange take

In the 4th, yes. Keep in mind that you're taking those minutes from Trezz, who has REALLY earned them with this breakout season.

Watch. Doc keeps trying to stretch Zubac's 6 minutes to start the game and his 6 minutes to start the 3rd. Very iffy results IMO. Some minutes in the 2nd and none in the 4th so far. And we're winning.

I'm watching closely, partly because of the controversy not just on this board but on Twitter too. Seems like a no-brainer LOL but I argue throwing him crunchtime minutes is what would really be brain-dead. Zubac can NOT get his own offense; Trezz steps up night after night and puts this team on his back. Better than Lou, better than PG, second only to Kawhi.

I am NOT going to just hand Trezz's minutes to Zubac until he becomes a FORCE and not just a body. Trezz is a FORCE.

You're putting words in people's mouths. Nobody is saying take Trezz's minutes and give them to Zu but in a lot of these games Trezz is winded and out of breath midway through the 4th. Zu should definitely be giving Trezz a 4-5 minute breather late in games especially if we're losing can't get a rebound, box out, or shot disruption to save our lives. Trezz is a borderline all star this season so nowhere did I say take all of Trezz's late game minutes and give them to Zu. But the fact that Zu never see's one fraction of a second in 4th quarters is criminal and insane imo.

[wco81]

Lakers were like 6/27 on wide open shots, defined as no defender being within 6 feet of the shooter.

They started out hot but then cooled down

[NippySudz]

Lakers were like 6/27 on wide open shots, defined as no defender being within 6 feet of the shooter.

They started out hot but then cooled down

Yup

If you take out kuzma first qtr he would be on pace for 10-15 points. He started off hot. Kuzma is not going to hit 4-9 consistently.

In basketball, you have to give up something. You can't defend everything. I don't know why it's hard to understand this.

Just because one person is hot, doesn't mean you abandon the game plan. You make adjustments to that game plan but you can live with any Laker not named LeBron and ad shooting the basketball.

The clippers defense just exhausted the Lakers. I think people under estimate the clippers interior defense. It looked solid wed night.

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[nickhx2]

basketball's about tradeoffs. i mean, all competitive games are.

giving a kyle kuzma a chance to get hot is absolutely a strategy and something you can deal with

giving an AD/lebron a chance to take over a game is a terrible strategy.

[esqtvd]

You're putting words in people's mouths. Nobody is saying take Trezz's minutes and give them to Zu but in a lot of these games Trezz is winded and out of breath midway through the 4th. Zu should definitely be giving Trezz a 4-5 minute breather late in games especially if we're losing can't get a rebound, box out, or shot disruption to save our lives. Trezz is a borderline all star this season so nowhere did I say take all of Trezz's late game minutes and give them to Zu. But the fact that Zu never see's one fraction of a second in 4th quarters is criminal and insane imo.

As far as what might be 'criminal' or 'insane,' that is best left outside discussing marginal minutes in a basketball game, bro. C'mon, it's just a game. And Zu is getting 2nd quarter minutes; that's how he's getting more than 12, 6 in the 1st and 6 in the 3rd. Doc's doing everything to stretch him out. YOU GOTTA WATCH.

But after Zu's 16-18 minutes, yes, any minute he gets comes from Trezz. That's the math. And Zu already did get some 4th quarter minutes this year. And was well below Trezz's level.

Doc doesn't trust Zu in the 4th quarter and so far neither do I. First reason is turnovers [twice Harrell's rate, I've posted the stats] and the other is that he fouls bigtime. Even if not guilty of the foul, as an unproven kid, he's not going to get the calls. And Doc knows this. He's not ready to risk games when we're already winning at a great clip with Trezz and have so many other things to work out yet.


Right or wrong, that's reasonable thinking. I need to get Kawhi, PG, Lou, Trezz and Beverley/Shamet on the same page before I go worrying about 4th quarter minutes for my project center. And Doc ESPECIALLY was not going to risk throwing away Ws futzing around with Zubac when we hadn't even had a game or practice with our full team yet.

We have been at battle stations since the season started. No time for projects. Maybe later, after we win 10 in a row and have time to futz around.

[esqtvd]

basketball's about tradeoffs. i mean, all competitive games are.

giving a kyle kuzma a chance to get hot is absolutely a strategy and something you can deal with

giving an AD/lebron a chance to take over a game is a terrible strategy.

Right on. Same with the Houston game. Westbrook will beat you some nights but most nights he won't. That was the strategy and the correct one.

And Kuzma's no Westbrook.

[QRich3]

I know a lot of people have been giving Paul George grief because he had a bad shooting night and he didn't get into a rhythm offensively, and I've been on him cause his defense has been sub par so far this year (for his usual standard), but he had an amazing defensive game on Christmas, Lebron's bad night was mostly due to George hounding him all night. And I know he's trying to push the narrative that he was injured and yadda yadda, but most of his missed shots were because George wasn't letting him get to his spots or handle a single ball in a comfortable position for him. I loved that.

[NippySudz]

basketball's about tradeoffs. i mean, all competitive games are.

giving a kyle kuzma a chance to get hot is absolutely a strategy and something you can deal with

giving an AD/lebron a chance to take over a game is a terrible strategy.

I feel like a handful of people here just don't get it and just want to blame anything and everything on either players, coaching staff, or the refs . They don't even try to understand it.

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[NippySudz]

I know a lot of people have been giving Paul George grief because he had a bad shooting night and he didn't get into a rhythm offensively, and I've been on him cause his defense has been sub par so far this year (for his usual standard), but he had an amazing defensive game on Christmas, Lebron's bad night was mostly due to George hounding him all night. And I know he's trying to push the narrative that he was injured and yadda yadda, but most of his missed shots were because George wasn't letting him get to his spots or handle a single ball in a comfortable position for him. I loved that.

This is a clip of PG defense last night. Excellent. LeBron was 2-8 when guarded by PG and kawhi

https://streamable.com/b1ivl

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[MartinToVaught]

Lakers were like 6/27 on wide open shots, defined as no defender being within 6 feet of the shooter.

They started out hot but then cooled down

Yup

If you take out kuzma first qtr he would be on pace for 10-15 points. He started off hot. Kuzma is not going to hit 4-9 consistently.

In basketball, you have to give up something. You can't defend everything. I don't know why it's hard to understand this.

Just because one person is hot, doesn't mean you abandon the game plan. You make adjustments to that game plan but you can live with any Laker not named LeBron and ad shooting the basketball.

The clippers defense just exhausted the Lakers. I think people under estimate the clippers interior defense. It looked solid wed night.

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All the angst over the Clippers' interior defense has ignored one key detail: Davis is soft. He would rather chuck soft midrange jumpers than actually dominate the game. PatBev has gotten more rebounds than him in both matchups so far, which is pretty embarrassing considering that Pat is a 6'1" guard.

Casuals will never think anyone's playing defense against AD unless they're making highlight-reel blocks and flexing to the crowd every possession, but the Clippers will happily let him keep chucking up shots like these:

Read on Twitter

Laker fans act like AD is prime Shaq or something, AD seems to think he's prime Dirk, but he's so far from either player, it's not even funny.

[NippySudz]

Lakers were like 6/27 on wide open shots, defined as no defender being within 6 feet of the shooter.

They started out hot but then cooled down

Yup

If you take out kuzma first qtr he would be on pace for 10-15 points. He started off hot. Kuzma is not going to hit 4-9 consistently.

In basketball, you have to give up something. You can't defend everything. I don't know why it's hard to understand this.

Just because one person is hot, doesn't mean you abandon the game plan. You make adjustments to that game plan but you can live with any Laker not named LeBron and ad shooting the basketball.

The clippers defense just exhausted the Lakers. I think people under estimate the clippers interior defense. It looked solid wed night.

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All the angst over the Clippers' interior defense has ignored one key detail: Anthony Davis is soft. He would rather chuck soft midrange jumpers than actually dominate the game. PatBev has gotten more rebounds than him in both matchups so far.

Laker fans act like AD is prime Shaq or something, but he's so far from that, it's not even funny.

Its not just the Lakers that clippers defense is stopping though.

I can't thing of one big that has abused thr clippers In thebe paint this season. Giannis technically I guess. Clips are second in rebounding despitr being smaller..

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[50CalClips]

I missed the game.
Just watched highlights.

Did the Lakers beat themselves?
Speak honestly.

[50CalClips]

...

But that Pat Beverley BLOCK has to be the Play of the Year, right? (2019-2020)

[NippySudz]

I missed the game.
Just watched highlights.

Did the Lakers beat themselves?
Speak honestly.

It's a little bit of both. Kawhi kept the team afloat. No one on the team could really get going offensively. The clippers were better defensively and got back into the game and made big plays down the stretch.

Kuzma started off hot but cooled off in the second half. The clippers if I'm honest with you never felt like they were in danger of losing the game and that's the vibe that I got from watching the game. They just needed to get their focus in order to win and that's what they did.

It was a tight game and they played lackadaisical to allow the lakers to balloon the lead heading into halftime.

The lakers literally only outscored the clippers in one quarter.

[nickhx2]

clips pretty much did their best to hang around and let one of their key guys come through. as mentioned, kawhi kept the team afloat and we had just enough juice from the rest of the team to push us over.

lakers couldn't sustain.

[NippySudz]

clips pretty much did their best to hang around and let one of their key guys come through. as mentioned, kawhi kept the team afloat and we had just enough juice from the rest of the team to push us over.

lakers couldn't sustain.

People kept saying the lakers blew it and had the clippers beat. It was a mixture of both, but I think it was more 60-40(60 clippers being the better team) the clippers being better and the lakers over performing.

Like the first game, I think the lakers came in high on emotion itching to beat the clippers and I think the clippers came in with an even keel approach, maybe somewhat lackadaiscal. They didn't really seem to match the lakers energy at first, but once they figured it, they won. The win was only possible because Kawhi leonard was playing good, so it allowed them to still be in the game, but they to me was clearly the better team in 3 out the 4 quarters.

Lakers fans are sure they had the clippers beat and will beat them going forward, but Lou will isn't going to play terrible again, neither is george imo. They made it sound like they figured out the puzzle to the clippers. I'm not so sure vogel did. If anything, I think he gave doc more film to work with.'

Clippers had better play sets, better offense, better rebounding, better passing. Better out of timeout plays, better inbound plays. I mean, come on now.

It seems like the lakers care more about the battle of LA than the clippers do.

[NippySudz]

Read on Twitter

Damn, this pretty much tells me that lebron james was just making excuses. How can you say that PatBev's knee set you back five days back and play the next game? It was just an excuse. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but after faking the broken hand in the nba finals after being swept, maybe I shouldn't.